Notices of Books.

We gladly welcome a new edition of this useful and interesting
handbook to the Antiquities of the Isle of Mann. It is practically a
new work, for not only is it half as long again as the last edition
and more fully illustrated, but it has been entirely re-written and
con-tains much new matter, the result of work done since the first
edition was published. There is a useful index, and the headlines add
much to its clearness. The writers have been able to avail themselves
of the additional knowledge gained by the investigations of the
Natural History and Antiquarian Society, of which one of them is
President and the other Secretary. Thus the excellent account of
Castle Rushen, contributed by the late Mr. Rigby to the Proceedings
of the Society (New Series, Vol. I. No. 7), has been summarized,
embodying as it does the result of the careful and scientific
examination of the structure which has been carried out by our
Governor, Lord Raglan, to whom the present edition is dedicated.
Again, since the first edition was published, the keeills of the
Island have been exhaustively studied and the results made known in
the Reports of the Manx Archæological Survey on which the
descriptions of them in the book are founded.

The account of the curious circle of Tritaphs which, it appears,
was really the origin of this little work, is added to, and
illustrated by good plans and several figures. This unique monument
is most difficult to date, and the authors are no doubt right in
regarding it as a work of the Transition period between the Neolithic
and Bronze Ages. For the arguments which are clearly and fairly set
forth we must refer our readers to their pages. We note that a
description is now given of the fortification on the Cronk Howe
Mooar, that great mound in the morass near Rushen church which the
authors have been the first to examine.

Many crosses and inscribed stones have come to light since the
publication of the first edition and are described in the present
one, and illustrated by a new series of figures expressly drawn for
the purpose. We see that the Knock y Doonee bi-lingual inscription is
given, but not a figure of the pillar stone of which, how-ever, good
views are published in the Sixth Report of the Manx Museum and
Ancient Monuments Trustees (Figs. 23,24). The latest of these
discoveries is referred to, namely the rune-inscribed cross-slab from
Maughold on which, for the first time, we find carved a Viking Ship.
The Ship is figured on the cover. It is by permission of the authors
reproduced, and an account of it by one of them appears on page
178 of this present number of MANNIN. As showing that the latest
discoveries have not been passed over, we remark a note on the work
begun by Mr. Cubbon at Rushen
Abbey, where it seems likely that the complete plan of the
Cistercian Monastery, if not also an earlier one, may be recovered.
Besides giving a full account of all these things, the book serves to
direct attention to other an-tiquities, concerning which we have no
knowledge and thus to suggest to workers lines of future research.
With regard for instance to the latest of the prehistoric periods, it
is a most remarkable fact that so far there is no direct evidence of
the Iron Age in the Isle of Mann. The authors conclude their book
with the hope that what they have written may help to further the
establishment of a well equipped insular museum, a hope which we most
cordially echo. Every year that passes sees our Island deprived of
relics of the past which are the only Possible evidence and
illustrations of our early history and of our social and racial
conditions. These things can never be replaced and the lack of such a
museum, with a surer method of preserving what few monuments stiil
remain to us, is growing to be a crying shame to the island.

This collection of scholarly essays, studies, and poems, was
written and published by fifty friends of Professor Ridgeway, and
presented to him on his sixtieth birthday. It is ably edited by Dr.
E. C. Quiggin, Professor of Celtic Philology in the University of
Cambridge, and particularly interesting to our readers as being a
Manxman. Each contributor to the book, being an authority on his own
subject, has produced a small masterpiece. A wide range of subjects
is covereda Greek poem by Mr. John Harrower, is followed by an
English one by Mr. A. D. Godley ; Professor Flinders Petrie writes on
"Some Royal Signets," Mr. S. A. Cooke on "The Evolution and Survival
of Primitive Thought" and so forth. It is indeed a unique birthday
present.

Miss Madeline Nugent, the promising young Irish writer, daughter
of Captain Nugent of Bride, and niece of Miss Julia Crottie, the
Irish novelist, has already had great success as a writer of Manx
stories for American and Irish magazines. A critic in an American
paper says : "The fascination of Miss Nugents tales of the Manx
fishermen will be conceded by all." Miss Nugent is about to bring out
her short stories in collected form and they will be sure of a warm
welcome.

It was announced in our last number that an Anglo-Manx Vocabulary
compiled by the late A. W. Moore, M.A., C.V.O., Speaker of the House
of Keys, with the assistance of S. Morrison and E. Goodwin, would be
published if sufficient subscribers were willing to pay 15/-net for
the book. Although the work is of undoubted interest to students of
dialects generally, and of the Manx Language in particular, the
promises hitherto received do not justify publication, which will
have to be abandoned unless more support is assured. Prospectuses may
be obtained from Mr. Humphrey Milford, Oxford University Press,
through any bookseller.

Mr. H. Percy Kellys little Manx Primer, No. 1, (price 3d.),
a translation from the irish Primer by Norma Borthwick, with the
charming illustrations by Mr. Jack Yeats, which we have kindly been
allowed to reproduce from the Irish Primer, is now out, and will be
followed shortly by Nos. II and III. It will prove very useful, we
are sure, to beginners in Manx. Mr. Kelly has done the work well and
the booklet is meant to be worked by the Direct Method. One would
like to see the little book in the hands of all the children of the
Island. Most parents know enough of the old tongue to act as guides
to the pronunciation.

Mr. Goodwins First Lessons in Manx" (price 1/-), which
can now again be obtained, the remainder of the first edition having
been acquired from Dr. Fournier dAlbe, will also prove a boon
to Manx students.

Of Mr. Alfred Perceval Graves new book, "Irish Literary and
Musical Studies" (Elkin Matthews), it is necessary to say little more
than that it is worthy of its author. The sketches of Irish men of
lettersMangan, Ferguson, Allinghain, Le Fanu, and others, are
excellent; and the character study of George Petrie is delightful,
both in its humanity and as a fine piece of writing. The essays on
Celtic poetry at different stages and from various points of view are
most interesting and enlightening, particularly those on the nature
poetry of the Celts, and the element of enchantment in early Irish
poetry. Mr. Perceval Graves illustrates his conclusions with many of
his own translations of Irish poems, translations which give a vivid
idea of the glamour and romance of the inspired originals.
Incidentally he has a good deal to say about the efforts made both
before and after the existence of Folk Lore Societies to collect and
preserve old folk songs. The account of Mr. W. H. Gills method
of "colloguing a tune" out of an old man, will be especially
interesting to Manx readers.

In her most interesting and fascinating book "Rustic Speech and
Folk Lore"(Humphrey Milford), Mrs. Joseph Wright makes a general
survey of English dialects. Even to the uninitiated it is
entertaining, and that it is scholarly goes without saying. Mrs.
Wright makes mention several times of Manx dialect and folk lore. She
cites such words and expressions as randyvous, loggats, child for
girl, agate o, painted lady (sweet pea), and so forth, which we
have in common with other districts ; she quotes our form of
expression with its in-version of verb and adjective, when special
stress is required, "the sick I am,  "the mad she
was,  "the happy they feel inside," as being peculiar to
the Island, and writes at some length upon the Tarroo-ushtey, upon
the custom of Hunting the Wren, and upon the superstition which holds
that daffodils should not he plucked till goslings are hatched. She
writes too of the Buggane and the Fenodyree. As regards this last it
is to be noted that Mrs. Wright calls him "A fallen fairy," banished
from fairyland for courtinga girl in Glen Rushen. This is not the
generally accepted view of him in the Island and it would be
interesting to know more of it. The well known story of the Fenodyree
and the clothes is current, it seems in the south of England, where
it varies slightly from our version and is told of a pixy. We are
proud of numbering Professor Joseph Wright amongst our Life
Members.